Remember: Team Gai
by Kratos Wilder
Summary: They were overlooked. No one gave them a chance. But they remained strong through their weakness, determined through their failure, successful through their pain. They were tough through it all, and everyone will remember Team Gai.
1. Ten Percent Luck

Hey guys! I re-wrote this story, thinking I could get all of this into one chapter, but I wanted each part to be longer, so I decided to do what I did before and do it a a multi-chapter. It won't be too long, but I'd rather it be a decent multi-chapter than a crappy oneshot.

Anyways, to those who are seeing this for the first time, I remember watching a AMV on YouTube with the song Remember the Name by Fort Minor with Team Gai. Absolutly loved it. The song itself is good, well, I think it is. So yeah, I took the chorus of the song and created this story. Hopefully, it's decent, because it has been on my mind forever!!

Okay, I dedicate this story to two of my peeps. One is my brother because he changed the lyrics to the song to actually go with Team Gai. And he better read it...NEJI! You better read it, and you better like it! Second, is my most favi reviewer and buddy of all time, Silvan Arrow! No matter how sucky my story is, she always reviews for it!! Thanks for the help and determination! I hope to not let you down!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, or the song. If I owned Naruto, Sasuke would be dead, and he would die a painful death and everyone would laugh at him! If I owned the song, I would know Linkin Park personally!! And THAT is a dream I would love to have come true!!

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Three teenagers, one teacher. Three Genin, one Jounin. Young academy graduates would be placed on squads with two of their classmates, and until promoted to another level, they trained, worked, and went on missions together. It was a usual principle every ninja land abided by.

Some ninjas were placed on squads no one thought would be great, and therefore, they never were. Some were told they would be great, and thus, created their downfall. Other squads were overlooked for those great groups that fell apart in the end, and no one ever heard about their potential.

But this squad was different. They were overlooked. No one gave them a chance. But they remained strong through their weakness, determined through their failure, successful through their pain. They were tough through it all, and one by one, people began to wonder who they were and how they were so strong.

_For all of those who wanna know what we're all about, it's like this:_

Now everyone will always remember the three members of Team Gai.

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**Remember: Team Gai  
**_Ten percent luck:_

It was early in the morning. The sun had not yet shown itself to the world, as there was no one there to greet it. The streets in Konoha were desolate and cold, not yet warmed by the sun. Citizens were still sleeping, the idea of work still far from their minds. It was one of the few times that you could hear nature at its fullest. But no one was there to hear it.

However, not everyone was asleep in the village. Aside those having just woken up from a nightmare, sickness and what not, there would always be the same four people up every morning before the rest of the village.

And this morning was not an unusual morning. Two people, dressed as twins in similar green attire, could be found running multiple laps around Konoha, exchanging "youthful" banter. Another could be found sitting quietly in a forest, eyes closed in deep meditation. The other could be found sleeping, just like all the other citizens.

The four people were to meet at their training grounds, just like any other day, at five in the morning. Sure it seemed hard to face the morning before the sun could face it, but Gai and Lee would claim it was to better their youth. Neji would claim it was the best time of day, with no distractions from other people (not counting Lee.) Tenten would claim it was too early in the morning, but best to get it over with.

It was ten minutes until the group had to meet. Neji was already there, taking the silence to heart before it was ruined by his overly energetic comrade and sensei. His overly energetic comrade and sensei were continuing their marathon, but today, they were a little behind on laps. Lee had shown up five minutes late and made a promise to his idol he would make that up with 100 extra laps. Gai was going to accompany him, only because his bright student had thought of such a grand punishment he never would have thought up himself.

And Tenten was still asleep.

Five minutes had passed, and Neji slowly began to wonder where his training partner was. She was usually at the field fifteen minutes early. She and Neji would often do a little training before Lee and Gai showed up to warm up. Lee and Gai usually arrived right on the dot. Anyone late, or arriving after they did, had to run 100 laps around Konoha and do 500 pushups before they began their daily routine. So if Neji and Tenten were there before Lee and Gai, everything was fine. Neji glanced down at his watch one last time, realizing she had two minutes to get there or he would be training alone for a good deal of the morning. But instead of going to get her, he leaned back against the tree and enjoyed the few minutes he had in silence.

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Tenten hit the snooze button again. How many times had she argued that five was too early? If Gai wanted her to be an outstanding ninja, she needed her sleep, too. She was in too much of a daze that she lost count of how many times she slammed her hand down on the stupid thing.

When it beeped again, she rolled over and shut it off completely. It was then that she realized what time it was. _4:59. _In a split second she was out of bed and getting ready to go. She had a habit of hitting the snooze button a few times, but she would be out the door by quarter till. She did not want to be late and have to run, do pushups, _and_ deal with Neji's harsh training methods all in one day. All those thoughts seemed to make her get ready faster.

However, she was still out the door at five. Maybe she could make up a story to lighten the punishment, so as she ran to the field, she tried to think of something. She could do the "I had a nightmare and didn't get that much sleep" story, but she had told that too many times for it to work again. So, she would claim she was sick and listen to Gai rant and rave about how she needed to take care of her health. But at least it wasn't running laps at five in the morning.

She came to the clearing where they met and leaned against a tree to catch her breath. She knew she had to have been five minutes late at least and was terrified to see Gai's reaction to her tardiness. She knew he would be unhappy, but this was a rare occurrence for her. Lee and Gai were always either right on time or a little late. She, on the other hand, was usually fifteen minutes early. Surely he would cut her some slack for being six minutes late on just one day.

She walked farther into the grove of trees that served as their training ground and prepared to hear the worst from her sensei. But it wasn't Gai's voice she heard. "You're late."

She turned to the voice and to her relief and shock, she only found Neji, sitting down against a tree. She looked around to see if Gai and Lee were there, but it was just Neji. "Where's Gai-Sensei?" she asked quietly, still a little out of breath.

Slowly, Neji stood up. "He's not here yet." Tenten was thrilled. As long as she beat them, she didn't have to do laps. Unless of course, Neji told on her. But she knew him well enough to know it was too beneath him to tattle on someone.

So far, she had one thing going right for her. "Wow, how did I manage to pick the day he was running behind too?" she said with a sigh.

Neji just smirked. "I guess you're lucky."


	2. Twenty Percent Skill

Alright, I will tell you now I was not happy with the way I wrote this. But, I was too lazy to fix it and so here it is. The fight scene could have been way better, but I had to keep it short and I'm not good at writing fight scenes. My biggest concern was getting the point across. Hopefully I at least did that...

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. If I did, Naruto would have brought back Sasuke and they would have executed him!**

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Remember: Team Gai  
_Twenty Percent Skill_

They were all quiet. It was missions like these Neji enjoyed because Lee couldn't talk. It was a B ranked mission, even though Tsunade would have rather given it to someone else, Gai had told her they were ready. She just hoped he was right. Their target: a rouge ninja who could possibly be a link to Sasuke. He was supposedly going to meet with another rouge ninja who had been involved in more than one dealing with Akatsuki. It could have been a simple mission if they were not caught. However, if they were, or if they brought friends, it could be a different story.

But they had spent hours in silence, hiding behind some bushes and trees, waiting for their target to show up. He was already hours late, and with the day drawing to a close, the team was exhausted and tired of sitting around.

"This is so unyouthful! He was supposed to be here hours ago!" Lee shouted as loud as a whisper could. Neji glared at him, demanding him to shut up. Lee just looked away. "Come on, Neji. If you see them coming, I'll be quiet. Until then, why do we have to waste our youth on remaining quiet?"

Neji leaned over to Lee. "If you don't shut up this instant, you will have more to deal with than the enemies."

"Lee's right, Neji," Tenten added, much to the dismay of Neji. "All of this sitting still is killing us and making us uptight. If you see anyone, then we can…"

"No," Neji said harshly, cutting her off. "You both accepted this mission knowing full well you would have to be quiet."

"But he hasn't shown up yet. Maybe he's not coming."

"Or maybe he knows that we'll get impatient and he'll be able to find us, and we will be arguing over something as stupid as this and get caught!" Neji yelled, realizing afterwards how loud he was. He sighed and turned his back to his teammates, and there was silence once again.

A few minutes had passed, and still no sign of their target. Where could he be? Did he have a feeling it was a set-up and opted not to come? Neji used his Byakugan to scan the area, but all he found were trees and bushes, and his two teammates sitting behind him. Lee was entertaining himself by playing with the fallen leaves and Tenten was fiddling with her weapons. Neji found himself growing angry with them. This was a serious mission, and they acted like they didn't care. This was why Tsunade didn't send them on stealth missions.

Seconds later, Neji dropped to the ground and turned his head to a confused Lee and Tenten. "Get down. He's finally coming."

They did as commanded and followed Neji's actions scooting closer to the edge of their hideout to spy on their target. He came walking into plain sight, then walked over to a tree and leaned against it. Now they just had to wait for the other one. Hopefully, he was right behind him. But if he was later, Lee and Tenten had to be quiet. Neji could deal with that.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up." Neji immediately jumped at the sound of an unknown voice. He quickly found the source, hiding in the shadows of the trees, and realized they had made a huge mistake.

He had already been there.

"Did you bring help?" The man asked, turning to the younger one leaning against the tree. The boy lifted his head in shock, earning a laugh from the older man. "I take that as a no. Then, who would be hiding around here, talking about being quiet so no one would find them?"

It was then Neji knew they were going to have to fight, even though they weren't supposed to. Maybe if they were lucky, they could keep them alive, as well as live to capture them.

"Lee, I need you to help me attack the two men. Tenten, you will stay here and attack long distance. Keep both of them alive. Any questions?"

It was rash and simple, yes, but it would have to do for now. Without waiting for a reply, Neji stood up and charged at the two men, surprised by his appearance. Lee followed suit, attacking the older man and Neji went for the younger.

The young man Neji was fighting pulled out a kunai and slashed at him, but he ducked below the blade and sent his hand, building with chakra, towards the man's chest.

However, the man dodged, leaping into the air to avoid the attack. He smiled. "You're gunna have to do better than that, kid."

Seconds later, a kunai embedded itself into his shoulder and he let out a cry of pain. Neji saw this opportunity and dropped into a stance he had become all too familiar with. The man managed to pull the kunai from his shoulder, but he didn't have time to defend himself from Neji's oncoming attack. When Neji finished his sixty-four strikes, the man fell over, unconscious, but not dead.

Neji turned to see how Lee was fairing with his opponent. He didn't doubt that he couldn't finish him alone, but they needed to hurry before someone noticed they were missing and help came. He walked over to where Lee and the other man were fighting to see Lee holding his ground. He backed off and watched the fight, ready to interfere if it was too long or Lee needed help.

Lee was just doing basic taijutsu, nothing too fancy. The man seemed to be a lot slower and had a hard time reading Lee's movements. Neji knew the fight wouldn't last too long, and after a few minutes, Lee quickly ran behind the enemy and delivered a kick to his back, sending him flying into a tree, knocking the man out cold.

When she knew it was safe, Tenten hopped down from the tree she was hiding in. "Wow, they went down kinda quick. I was hoping they would be more challenging than that."

Lee turned to Neji and Tenten and flashed his "Good Guy" pose. "See, Neji? I am strong! I will carry this one to the village and you can carry the other. Will you challenge me to a race, to see who gets there first?!"

All Neji and Tenten could do, was smile.


	3. Fifteen Percent Concentrated Power

Hey there, again. Well, I have had this written for a while now, but I have been preoccupied with people and school. Haha, and I really do mean that this time. But, I was on my computer and decided to update, because I have it written. Anyways, thanks for the support, which I was not expecting! You guys make my day everyday!!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't be asking my brother, what's going on?**

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Remember: Team Gai  
_Fifteen Percent Concentrated Power of Will_

Neji was in a full state of panic. Lee had left long ago to find and get help while he stayed behind to look after their dying teammate. They had thought all the enemies were dead. Lee was shouting youthful praises to whoever listened about how happy he was to have beaten so many opponents. Neji was facing him in a state of rage, telling him to shut up about youth, and informing him that he had defeated more. Tenten just watched from the background, laughing at her two teammates.

Until her laughter turned into a scream.

Lee and Neji turned to see that they had not killed all their enemies, for one had enough life left to drive his kunai into Tenten's side. In his dying moments, he pushed the weapon further into her body. When he had no energy left, his body weight forced the blade down, creating a larger wound. They both ran to her side and Neji caught her as she fell, and they knew they had to get help quickly. Blood was pouring from her wound and every now and then, she would go into a coughing fit and cough out more blood. Lee took off to find help the minute Neji had found shelter.

But they were far from safe. There would be more enemy ninjas, out to avenge their fallen brothers. Neji could only hope that they didn't find him. He had to protect Tenten, give her a fighting chance until help arrived. He also hoped that Lee found help quickly, and didn't get caught by the enemies. It was hard enough dealing with one injured friend. He could not stand the thought of losing the other.

He tried to bandage her wound, but he wasn't a medical ninja. Al he knew was that the wound was bad, and he couldn't keep her there for long. They would be an easy target, given the fact that Neji was a little worn out as well. But he would not let her die when he could do something about it.

"Neji…" Hearing her say his name, he raced to her side. She was trying to sit up, but he held her down.

"Don't. You just need to rest right now. Lee's out finding help as we speak. He'll be back soon."

She attempted a smile, but she went into one of her coughing fits instead. Neji silently cursed Lee for not being back yet. He hated to watch Tenten suffer on his own when there was nothing he could do to ease her pain. He didn't know how much longer she could hold on. He didn't know how much longer it would be until the enemies found him.

He stood up and began to walk off to scout out the area when Tenten grabbed his hand. "Don't…where are you going?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

He turned to her and spoke in a calm voice. "I need to make sure that there are no enemies about. Though I have my Byakugan, there might be some who have the ability to hide from it."

He attempted to walk off again, but she stopped him. "Don't go…" After hearing her demand, he couldn't force himself to leave her side. He gave in, and he kneeled down next to her and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I'm not going to leave you." After he said that, she began coughing again. He was worried with how much blood she was coughing up, and these fits of hers seemed to be longer and more violent as time went on. Where they hell was Lee? Couldn't he see how much she needed help? Couldn't he go faster?! She was going to die if he didn't find help quick enough!

"Ah, ain't that sweet? Hey guys, look at this."

Neji turned in shock, blaming himself for not paying attention and watching for enemies. He had not only put himself in danger, but Tenten as well, and he would be damned if he let his mistake end in her death.

It wasn't until he looked at them that he realized there were too many of them.

"Gotta protect your girlfriend, eh boy?" the enemy laughed. "When we're done with you, mind if we take her?"

Neji clenched his fists, continually telling himself to not let his emotions interfere with his thinking. He had to think clearly in order to find a way to win. He could not let these men force him to think irrationally.

However, it seemed one of the ninja noticed the slightest bit of anger he was letting off. "Uh-oh. Seems like someone's upset. He must really want to keep her if he's not backing down with all of us here." Neji didn't care what they said. All he thought about was keeping Tenten out of harm's way. If she could hold on, then he would fight for her sake.

But he was tired from his mission and he didn't think he had the strength to fight all these men at once, or even for that long. Then again, he knew he didn't have a choice. He ran at the laughing men, catching some of them by surprise at his sudden actions. He built up what little chakra he had and forced it into his palm.

"Juuken." He landed a hit to one man's chest, causing his heart to explode and the man fell to the ground, dead. He turned to the oncoming attackers and did the same. When he realized too many were coming at once, he quickly changed his strategy. He waited until the enemies were closing in on him, then he began forcing himself into a squat. When the moment was right, he spun around, forcing chakra out of his body to form a shield for defense. Most of the enemies had been blown away by the attack. They slammed into the walls and were temporally unconscious.

Neji ended his Kaiten and realized he was exhausted. Most of the enemies were down, but not down for good, which was not how he wanted things to be. Before he could force himself into another stance, two men ran up behind him and grabbed each of his arms. A third member came up to him, slamming his fist into his stomach. Neji coughed and doubled over, listening as the men laughed at his futile efforts to beat them.

"How about we kill the girl first?" one man asked.

"No, she's too pretty to just kill her. Let's play with her before we kill her off."

Through his pain, Neji forced himself to open his eyes, but he could only watch as two other men walked over to Tenten. She sat up and tried to get away, but her wound effected her movements. One of them men grabbed her arm and she tried to pull away, but his grip was too strong.

Neji was burning with hatred and anger. She needed him, and by all means, he was going to be there for her. No one would harm her if he was breathing, and even if he wasn't, he still would do whatever it took to see to it that she would be okay.

"Let her go." He put emphasis on each word, speaking softly, yet forcefully at the enemies. When the men laughed at him and continued against his will, a feeling he had not felt in a long time raged within him, adding a newfound power he had thought he would never possess. Out of anger, he pushed chakra out of his body and the men holding him down were immediately tossed aside like rags due to the force of the impact. The second he was freed, he ran to the men surrounding Tenten and began where he left off.

Using his Juuken, he killed the two men quicker than he thought possible. He forced himself to calm down before looking over at Tenten. "Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

Shocked, she slowly nodded her head. "…I'm fine…" She had never seen Neji so mad before, even when Neji had gotten fed up with Lee's youthful phrases. However, when his lips curved up to form a smirk, she knew he was still the same Hyuuga now as he was then.

"If you don't mind, I have some finishing up to do." With that, he turned his back and began attacking the few ninjas that remained, knowing full well he would not lose this fight as long as she was there to give him the strength he needed to beat them.


	4. Five Percent Pleasure

Alright! I am updating! I actually told myself to sit down and write this, and I was very impressed with what I did. It wasn't what I had planned for, but I liked it. I owe Silvan Arrow the credit for writing this, though. I wasn't planning on making a continuation (sp?) of the last chapter, but it went kinda well with the theme and gave me an idea to write about. So, here it is! Hopefully, it was good!!

Thank you to all those who have reviewed! I was not expecting this many! Thank you again!! (strikes Good Guy pose!!) Ha, now you are blinded by the Power of Youth!!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. If I did, I would not be waiting for the manga to be updated to find out if Itachi will kill Sasuke or the other way around! Please let Sasuke die!!!!!!!!**

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**Remember: Team Gai  
**_Five Percent Pleasure_

Neji looked around, Byakugan activated, examining his work. The enemies were dead. He had fought them all, and he had won, despite the odds against him. Once again, he had to remind himself that Fate could be changed.

He took a deep breath and his eyes returned to normal. He turned his head immediately at the sound of his teammate coughing again. He was at her side in an instant.

"It's alright. There are no more enemies." He stated it more as a reminder to himself than to her. Everything was going to be okay, right?

"You fought well…Neji…" and she began coughing again. Neji could only watch in pain as she struggled to stop coughing and breathe in air. When she finally stopped, she leaned back against the wall.

"I hope Lee is okay." Neji hoped so as well as he sat next to her. Her breathing was now irregular, and every time she spoke, she ended up coughing more blood.

"Don't talk. You need to rest. Lee will be fine. If I can defeat these enemies, he will too." It wasn't something he wanted to admit, but it helped lighten the mood, even if it was a little.

She smiled at him. "It's weird hearing you say that…"

"Don't talk."

And she fell silent. She knew not to disobey a Hyuuga when he was serious. He sighed, seeing her turn away from him. "Lee will be fine. He probably has help right now on their way. You need to worry about your condition."

"You think I'm going to die?"

His heart stopped beating. She was half expecting him to scold her for talking again, but he just looked at her in confusion, or maybe that was fear?

Neji was quiet for a while before he had the courage to speak up again. "No. You will not die." It was more a promise to himself to keep her alive until help came. She could not die here, not while she was with him. He would not let that happen.

But what could he do to help her? For the first time, he felt like he was useless. Someone needed his help and yet, he couldn't help them. The only thing he could do for her was tell her she was okay, that she was going to be fine. It was up to her to take his words to heart and put up a fight.

Her voice brought his attention back to her. "You can tell me the truth, Neji. I feel like I'm dying."

No, she had to live. He would not let her die. He would not let her think she was going to die. When she looked away again, taking his silence as the dreaded answer, he reached out and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"Don't you _ever_ say that you will die. You are strong, and you will live through this. I will not sit here and watch you kill yourself like this. If Lee doesn't come soon, I will take you to a village to heal you. I don't care what I have to do, you will _not_ die now."

Tenten suddenly forgot all about her pain and stared at the man before her. This could not be her teammate, the person everyone claimed had no feelings, could care less about anything unless it dealt with strength and recognition in the Hyuuga household.

"Neji…"

"You must save your strength. I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, but you have to promise me that you won't give into this." She stared at him again, but Neji's eyes bore deep into hers. "Promise me, Tenten." He grabbed both of her hands and held them in his. "Promise me."

Tears threatened to fall from her eyes. She had never seen Neji so…afraid in her life. He was pleading with her, _begging _her to hold on. She couldn't say no to him no matter how he said anything, but _this_ was just…heartbreaking.

"I promise, Neji. I won't go out so easily. Besides," she added with a smile, pausing only suppress another cough. "What would you do without your training partner?"

She was expecting him to smile, or grin, something to show he was amused. All he did was grip her hands tighter in his.

Then, the great Neji Hyuuga looked away. "You've done more for me than you think. You don't know how lost I would be without you."

Now she really wanted to know where Neji was. She let out a weak cough, trying to fight back the pain burning in her lungs. She wanted so badly to say something to him, maybe ask a question only he would know to try and figure out if this was an illusion. Maybe she had been poisoned too?

Seeing her reaction, he gave into a smile. "Trust me, this is the real me. And I'm not lying to you. You've always been the one person I could go to when I needed someone. You stayed and trained with me when I was angry; you came earlier to help me as well. You keep me sane when I want to rip Lee's head off. You never stopped pushing yourself for me. You don't have any idea how much that means to me. And you don't know how stupid I feel for realizing this now, when you're hurt, when _I_ can't help _you_."

After regaining her composure, she smiled faintly at him. She took her hands from his and forced herself to sit up, despite her pain and Neji's protests. When she was eye to eye with him, she took his hand in hers and gripped it tightly. "You're helping me now, by being here. I won't let you down, Neji…"

He put a finger on her lips to silence her. "You never have, and you never will. As long as you're safe, that's all that matters to me."

She smiled again, and the two fell silent. Every now and then, Tenten would go into another coughing fit, and Neji would squeeze her hand tighter, a gesture to let her know he was there.

After what felt like hours, Neji began to question where Lee was. The sun was beginning to set, meaning it had been hours since Lee left to find help. What if he really was caught by the enemies, and they were on their way to find them? He was not in any shape to fight anyone. He needed time to rest and recuperate, but he didn't even have that. Tenten was fading in and out of consciousness and as hard as she tried not to cough, they could not be stopped.

"Hold on, just a little longer. Lee will be here shortly." But how long had he been telling her that? She was probably thinking Neji was a fool for believing Lee had not been caught yet. But Neji refused to believe he was out of the picture. Lee was stronger than that.

"I know…" Her voice was barely a whisper. It pained him to even hear her speak. Her grip on his hand was weak, and even when she tried to comfort him, it wasn't as strong as it was before.

"If Lee isn't here within the next ten minutes, I am taking you somewhere to get help." He was getting extremely nervous now, having one teammate dying before his eyes and another MIA.

"Neji…Lee's, okay. He'll come…" And she began coughing again. Out of impulse, and maybe fear, he reached out and took her into his arms, hoping to calm her down. When she didn't stop, he began to panic. Where the hell was Lee?!

After a few minutes, her violent coughing fit came to an end, but she was too weak to pull away from Neji. He held on to her tightly, afraid that if she had another fit like that, she wouldn't be able to breathe. Neji's heart began to race at the thought of this being the end. No, he was going to get help. Since Lee hadn't come, he had to take matters into his own hands. His only problem was that if Lee came back and they were gone, he would leave Lee worried about where they could have run off to.

He tried to think of what to do when Tenten broke out into another coughing rage. She was trying to breathe in air, but her lungs wanted to get rid of the unknown fluid taking up space. She gripped Neji's shoulders, fighting back tears and hoping the pain would subside and she would be able to breathe again. She could feel his body shake in fear, but she couldn't stop coughing.

"Tenten, stop! You have to stop this!" Neji cried, doing what he could to get her to stop. She needed to breathe, but she couldn't. He gripped her shoulders and tried to think of something else to do, something to help her. But he knew the only way for this to end, was for her body to stop it for her. There was nothing the two of them could do now.

Much to Neji's surprise, she finally stopped coughing and her worn out body crashed into his. However, Neji just held her body close to his, hoping he would wake up from this nightmare. He shook his head, knowing he had to get out of there now and fast. He didn't know how much longer she could hold out.

He swung an arm down behind her knees and picked her up. He was leaving. He looked down at her face and knew he had to be quick. She was unconscious, and he hoped that she would keep breathing. He didn't know what he was going to do the minute she stopped breathing all together.

"I'm taking you to get help. Lee will figure out what happened when he realizes we're not here. I can't wait any longer. I will not let you die here." He turned to leave the hiding spot when he froze.

There before him stood Lee, cut up and bleeding, but smiling nonetheless. And behind him stood Sakura. He had gone all the way to Konoha to get the best medical person they both knew. Sakura immediately ran over to Neji as he put Tenten on the ground carefully and let her work on her injuries. Then, Neji turned to Lee.

"You…you risked going all the way back to Konoha to get help?"

Lee didn't know if that was supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing. So, he was left explaining his reasoning to his teammate. "I knew Sakura would be the best bet, and she would be able to fix anything that was wrong with her. I'm sorry I took so long. It's a long run."

Neji smiled and Lee had an urge to pull out his notebook and write down the day and place where Neji had shown him a smile. "You don't know how thankful I am that you did this, Lee."

"Well, I managed to seal up her wound and help drain most of the blood from her lungs," Sakura told the two boys after she stood up. "All she needs now is a lot of rest. She might still cough some blood up, but nothing life threatening. She's lucky. You two did a good job." Neji and Lee both gave their hero a smile.

"Thank you, Sakura."

"That's our youthful Sakura!"

The young medic-nin sighed, but smiled at them. "It would be in our best interest to rest here tonight and make our way back home tomorrow. If that's okay with you guys."

They both nodded, and Neji turned back to Lee. "You had me worried that you weren't going to come back, that you were hurt along the way. You have no idea how thankful I am that you got help and your okay as well."

Lee nodded. "Me too!"

Neji's smile turned into a smirk as he sat down next to Tenten, who was now sleeping peacefully. "Why's that?" he asked Lee, who had sat down across from him.

Lee struck his "Good Guy" pose and laughed. "Because you have no idea how many laps and push-ups I would be doing if I failed!"


End file.
